Rare Diseases: What It Takes To Build Strong Field-based Medical Teams

STUDY OVERVIEW

Investment in rare disease therapeutics has exponentially increased since implementation of government incentives for developing orphan drug treatment paradigms. Pharma firms pursuing these therapeutic areas are likely to have little competition for their treatments, but also little knowledge of the intricacies of the patient communities and the health care providers that serve them.

For these reasons, strong field medical teams are critical for successful rare disease therapeutics.

Best Practices, LLC undertook this benchmarking research to characterize what reporting structures, success factors, activities, and tools drive great rare disease field medical teams.

Segmentation used in the study:Total Benchmark Class (15 respondents); US Only (n=8) and Excluding-US (n=5)

KEY TOPICS

• Executive Summary: Methodology, Participants, & Key Findings
• Staffing & Reporting
• Business Operations
• Outreach Strategy
• Peformance Measurement & Improvements
  
  

• Job level of the person to whom the medical leader (direct medical manager) of your rare disease field-based medical team function directly reports?
• Which functions/roles are part of your organization's rare diseases field-based medical team? 
• What are the number of FTEs in your rare disease field-based medical team for each of the following field medical team roles?
• What percentage of time does the principal contact for HCPs & KOLs spend on internal vs. field responsibilities? 
• At any one time, on average, how many pipeline and marketed products are supported by your primary contact point for HCPs and KOLs
• Which rare disease field-based medical team function/role is the principal contact for HCPs & KOLs? 
• During an average year, how many HCPs and KOLs do your rare disease field-based medical teams interact or engage with?
• What percentage of interactions with HCPs result in a clinical insight being delivered back to the company?
• What are the best examples of clinical insights from HCPs? 
• What percentage of interactions with KOLs result in a clinical insight being delivered back to the company?
• What are the best examples of clinical insights from KOLs? 
• What percentage of interactions with HCPs are proactive and reactive (i.e., the HCP initiates)?
• What are the best examples of a proactive and reactive outreach for HCPs?
• What percentage of interactions with KOLs are proactive and reactive (i.e., the KOL initiates)?
• What are the best examples of a proactive and reactive outreach for KOLs?
• What percentage of the field-based role's communication with HCPs and KOLs are done through each of the following channels?
• How many ride-alongs does an MSL Manager conduct with the rare disease field-based medical team on average each year for HCPs and for KOLs? 
• Which of the following activities are your rare disease field-based medical team involved in often, sometimes, rarely, or never? 
  

• Leadership: Leaders of field medical teams tend to report to VP level. MSLs are most typical roles within field teams.
• Responsibilities: Seventy / thirty percent of field team’s work is spent on field/internal responsibilities. About 2 pipeline and 2 marketed products supported by field teams.

For this study, Best Practices, LLC engaged 15 leaders from 12 companies through a benchmarking survey instrument.

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